Primo stood beside his friend Harry at the base of the launch pads, watching the towering interplanetary ships standing before him.
”Amazing what we‘ve accomplished… as a race I mean”, said Harry.
The cheering from the crowd made his voice almost inaudible.
”Yes Harry. I first thought of that on October 15, 2412 at 9 o‘clock with 33 seconds. The moment I was activated”, Primo‘s distorted voice overpowered the noise around them. “Humanity’s accomplishments are many. Like me”
The smell of candy and hot dogs made Harry‘s stomach grumble and made his mood lighten up. He placed one of his hands on Primo‘s metallic shoulder.
”I‘m going to miss you”
”I will miss you too Harry”
”I have to go now”
”I know Harry”
A small tear formed on Harry‘s eye and he looked to Primo‘s face, to his bright luminous blue eyes.
”I know you think I don‘t feel like you Harry. But I do. It is just that I cannot form tears. I will miss you friend. But you will not be forgotten. You are forever stored in my memory and I will come to you in the future”
”Last call for all passengers of the Exodus 2. Please proceed to the boarding area”, the announcement was being made. Harry had decided to wait as long as he could. To keep Primo company. To see the blue skies of Earth for as long as possible.
”Thank you Primo. I‘ll be waiting for you”, Harry hugged him and he was hugged back.
”Go now friend. We‘ll see each other soon”
Harry let go of Primo and waved a last goodbye. He walked towards the boarding platform. He felt strange, leaving the place where all of his ancestors had been born. All the people on Earth. Moving to another planet, to start a new generation, to begin a new life. He thought of everything that was accomplished, he thought of his parents. Long gone now. Before the cure of old age had been found. They‘d be proud of him. They‘d go with him.
”Sir please, this way”, a uniformed man signaled Harry to a large door on the side of the Exodus.
”Thanks”, said Harry, not caring if the man had heard him. Thinking of the trip to Mars. Thinking of ship‘s takeoff. Thinking of the future of man kind.
A distant rumbling sound began to make its way to the ship‘s location. Barely audible, a thunder, a trembling, a sound too deep for humans to notice. Primo‘s head turned immediately to the its source. The sky.
It was the Moon. Primo saw as it cracked in two colossal parts and an infinity of smaller pieces. Earth‘s satellite, the source of so many legends and tales, a giver of life, destroyed. The terraforming activities on it must have gone wrong. Very wrong. The monumental pieces of rock began to succumb to Earth‘s gravity.
Primo‘s reaction was instant. He raced through the crowds at superhuman speed, throwing people out of his way when necessary, jumping them, going through them. Blood stained his metallic body as he smashed an old woman’s frail one. Screams reached his ears but quickly faded as he sped away from them.
Chaos set in as the robotic AI sped through the people with no care. Police began to shoot, but Primo‘s agility was too great for human aiming. He ran through the park, then through the security post, screams and radio chatter reached him barely.
He arrived at the Exodus 2′ entrance. Eight security guards aimed their guns at him.
”Halt right there!”
Primo stopped and without delay said, ”Look”, the voice from his body erupted echoing through the platform as he pointed to the sky. Some of the Moon‘s smaller pieces were shining brightly as they entered the atmosphere. The larger ones steadily came closer.
Panic overcame the guards and everyone around Primo.
”Shut the boarding doors! We‘re leaving!”
People ran into the ship as soon as they realized what was happening. Emergency procedures were activated. A small child was cut in two as the Exodus‘ door came down upon him. Screaming engulfed the platform.
Primo knew he had done what was necessary, and he knew that he could do nothing else. He stood silent on the spot were the security guards had been waiting for him. People ran around him. Trying to force the ship‘s door open. Shots were fired to prevent it. People began to fall, to bleed, to die. The smell of iron and flesh began to fill Primo‘s sensors. He had smelled that before, during the war.
Another rumbling began, this time the engines of the Exodus 1 began to roar. Crowds of people were thrown into the air by the sheer pressure, others were instantly incinerated, and the unlucky ones were set on fire and were running mad with no set path.
Exodus 1‘ monstrous body began to rise slowly into the sky. The chaos and panic in the ground did not diminish the breathtaking view Primo was experiencing. A hundred thousand people being lifted in a flying city. A true marvel of human accomplishment.
An explosion.
A rock from then deceased Moon came down with terminal velocity burning bright and struck the Exodus 1. A fireball that encompassed half the launch platform erupted from it and the mammoth came down and crumbled to the ground. Killing in an instant half of the people meant to populate the new colony on Mars.
“Captain we must take off now! The moon is about to come down on us!”
Deafening alarms in the command center of the Exodus 2 blared, people screamed orders and Captain Otis scrambled to get the ship ready for takeoff.
“Sol!”, the Captain grabbed him by the shirt and brought him close, “I don’t care what your Job is, find my son and let me know when you do. Go now!”
Sol nodded through the chaos and ran outside the command center. The Captain checked the ship’s systems status and realized that despite the alarms in the room, the ship was ready for takeoff.
The Captain looked outside through the large window in front of him, it was raining fireballs and the moon’s largest remains were getting closer. He grabbed the radio, “Sol! Where the hell is my son? We must go now!”
“I can’t find him sir, I don’t know where he is!”
The Captain shot up from his desk and ran towards security on the other side of the command center. Fifty screen showed the multitudes of people outside banging on their doors and running in a frenzy. He began to look through them.
“Sir, what are you looking for?”
“Eddy, I think my son is out there, help me look for him”
The Captain began to grind his teeth as he became increasingly anxious. If they didn’t take off soon, he’d be responible for the death of every human being left.
“There!”, exclaimed Eddy, “I think that’s them”
“Yes! Open the door Eddy, let them in. Once they’re in close it. Close it no matter what, we’re taking off in one minute!”
“Yes sir!”, Eddy executed the commands on his console as the Captain raced back to his chair.
The Captain grabbed the microphone and began, “Take off in T minus sixty seconds.”
Primo watched as the doors to the Exodus 2 reopened and a sea of people flooded the gates. It seemed endless, women, men, children. He couldn’t belive the Captain’s decision, they had to take off soon. He looked up at the sky and saw a large part of the moon at a dangerous distance.
He jumped to a flagpole near his position and looked at the crowd of people stuck in the entrance of the the Exodus 2 and suddenly the gate began to rise. Hundreds of people began to scream in unison. Bodys exploded from the pressure as the gate made its way to the top. Blood drenched the ship and when the gate was a few feet from being closed it stopped. It jammed, the flesh of a hundred people clogged the rails of the gate.
“No!”, Primo’s voice resonated through the platform. He jumped back to the ground and ran to the entrance, throwing people off his way as fast as he could. They were as good as dead anyway. He reached the gate and began to grab handfuls of the red pulp from the rails. People pulled at him, screamed at him. But he had no choice, he could no let Harry die. His hands went in and out, grabbing, pulling, ripping the corpses of the people in his way.
The gate began to move again and Primo jumped off the top and began to walk away.
The Exodus 2 started its takeoff and Primo watched from below the enormous power it generated to free itself from its planet‘s pull. He watched as it reached the upper layer of the atmosphere. Humanity‘s last hope. But it was too late. As the ship struggled to exit Earth the Moon crashed down on it. Erasing it from existance. Killing in a second everyone and everything on it.
Primo watched the Moon come down into the atmosphere. Covering the sky with a red fire. Incinerating it.
”Goodbye Harry. I suppose we will not see each other soon, after all”.
Sorry to be “that guy”, but…
“But he had no choice, he could no let Harry die”
The “no” should be “not.” I’m not sure if you appreciate typo corrections… But wonderful story!
That ending tho…?
[Science Fiction] Exodus (1500 words) http://t.co/KEkC9vphbR
I know you think I don‘t feel like you. But I do. It is just that I cannot form tears. I will miss you friend. http://t.co/DrbxZPoBDX